jimotis4heisman
Banned
i looked i didnt see this
http://dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/10/22/20061022-A1-00.html
SPOILSPORTS
Alcohol and late games don?t mix well for Big Ten football, analysis finds
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Jill Riepenhoff and Mike Wagner
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Buckeye Fan Behavior Video
An officer from the University of Michigan?s Department of Public Safety monitors the student section for potential unruly behavior during the rival game between the Wolverines and the Spartans two weeks ago. Officers ejected 80 people from that game, mainly for alcohol-related offenses.
Troy King, left, checks a fan?s bag for alcohol and other banned items at Ohio Stadium. "We?re the eyes and ears for the police," says King?s boss, Seyth Boardman, of a security company hired by OSU.
In a tradition that police and university officials loathe for fear of injuries, Ohio State fans rush onto the field at Ohio Stadium after a victory over rival Michigan. In 1998, the late "Neutron Man" Orlas King, center, helped lead the charge.
Ohio State students this year launched a campaign to promote sportsmanship. "The vast majority of Buckeye fans celebrate responsibly and aren?t rude," senior Robbie Beaulieu says.
Law-enforcement officers keep an eye on fans from an Ohio Stadium suite equipped with high-tech cameras and air-quality monitors.
FILE PHOTO Wisconsin fans storm the field after a win over Michigan in 1993. The incident, known as the student crush, left about 80 fans injured. It serves as a reminder of the importance of good fan behavior.
The young man, wearing a puffy winter coat on a warm sunny afternoon, heard his friend?s warning as he passed through the gate at Michigan Stadium.
"Make sure you hide that somewhere good," he whispered, but not softly enough.
A university police officer approached the man, opened his blue coat, reached into the side pocket and gently pulled out a pint of Jack Daniel?s.
In an instant, the man lost his whiskey, his scalped $100 ticket, and any chance to see rivals Michigan and Michigan State play football.
The man, who had flown from New York to attend the game with his family, begged for a second chance. His sister screamed at the officer, "You are breaking up a family. It?s just a little alcohol."
The scene in Ann Arbor two weeks ago illustrates a crackdown on improper fan behavior at college football stadiums across the country.
Alcohol possession and consumption accounted for nearly three-fourths of the problems at Big Ten football games in 2005, a Dispatch analysis of university police department reports found. Alcohol topped the list of reasons for ejection.
Fans, athletics officials, band members, cheerleaders and psychologists agree that behavior before, during and after football games continues to deteriorate.
There is no way to measure trash-talking, middle-finger gesturing, name-calling or other offensive behavior that breaks no laws.
The Dispatch collected and analyzed police incident reports to gauge behavior that broke school rules or criminal laws inside stadiums and to examine police response. More than 4.8 million fans flooded the conference?s 11 football stadiums during the season.
The newspaper found that:
? The University of Wisconsin, with the fourth-highest game attendance in the conference, ejected 413 fans, the most of any school.
? The majority of the problems happened during lateafternoon and night games, even though nearly 65 percent of Big Ten games started before 3:30 p.m.
? Intense rivalries brought the most trouble. Penn State and Michigan police each recorded season-high numbers of reports ? 73 and 74 ? when Ohio State visited. Ohio State officers? busiest day came during the Texas game, with seven police reports logged.
? Across the conference, police responded to 153 calls of disorderly conduct in the stands. When Penn State played in Michigan Stadium, police had 28 calls, the most for any single game.
? Ohio State and Indiana each totaled 24 reports for the season, though nearly three times as many fans watched games in Columbus.
"Clearly we have gotten to a point where fan behavior is worse than it was 20, 10 and even five years ago," said Daniel Wann, a psychology professor at Murray State University in Kentucky and an expert on fan behavior. "Many of the universities and the NCAA are taking this seriously now."
Everyone agrees that alcohol abuse is the root of most problems, he said. "We have known for decades in psychology that alcohol facilitates aggression. And we see proof of that game after game."
Consider the Wisconsin fans drenched by a garden hose in 2002 as they walked to Michigan Stadium.
Or the Michigan fan cornered and taunted in a Penn State bathroom two years ago.
Or the Buckeye Boosters seated in a bus that Wisconsin fans rocked in 2003.
Or the Texas Longhorn fans who ran in fear from Ohio Stadium last season.
The fans involved in those incidents never called police, they said in separate interviews. But the episodes left ugly, lasting impressions of the schools they visited.
"Used to be that you could go to a visiting stadium and there would be lots of camaraderie," said Gary Marconi, a long-time Ohio State fan who has attended nearly every Buckeyes game since 1989. "It?s become more hostile."
Stiffening the penalties
Many colleges across the nation have increased security to combat unruly fan behavior, but Wisconsin has some of the strictest laws and policies on game days.
The increased enforcement at Wisconsin is linked to a tragic day in 1993 when about 80 people were injured as thousands rushed the field after a win over Michigan.
In the stands and on the field, fans lay with crushed legs and broken bones. A few nearly died, gasping for air and turning blue under the mass of humanity that trampled them.
"We lived through the student crush and we never want to live that again," said Lt. Bill Larson, who coordinates security for Wisconsin home games.
At Wisconsin, fans caught throwing a hard object are ejected and cited. They also lose their season ticket. Anyone charged with a misdemeanor or worse loses his season ticket. Even season-ticket holders who don?t go to the game can lose their seats for the year if someone who buys their tickets gets into similar trouble.
Officers from about 30 lawenforcement agencies patrol every area of the stadium and watch for intoxicated fans or those who sneak in alcohol. At the Michigan game last year, police ejected more than 100 fans, mainly for intoxication or underage drinking.
Wisconsin police also work with a county medical facility that tends to fans who are too drunk to care for themselves. People taken there are kept for at least 12 hours. Season-ticket holders sent to the center lose their tickets for a year.
"You have to put it in perspective and realize that the vast amount of fans have a good time and are well-behaved," Larson said. "The overall behavior has gotten better here."
Penn State officials held a fan-behavior summit in December and banned drinking at tailgate parties during the game in response to problems last season, said Bruce N. Kline, assistant police director.
During one embarrassing scene, Penn State fans pelted the Ohio State marching band with urine-filled bottles during the 8 p.m. game last year.
Penn State President Graham Spanier issued a public apology.
Big Ten university officials struggle to balance the benefits of night games (national exposure) with the consequences (all-day drinking).
Michigan State also made tailgate-party changes in an attempt to decrease pre-game drinking. Officials do not open parking areas until five hours before kickoff for noon games and six hours for late-afternoon games.
At Ohio State, by contrast, some parking areas open the night before a game.
"We?ve noticed a big difference," said Michigan State police inspector Kelly Beck.
In Spartan Stadium, police officers, student workers and cameras keep tabs on fans.
Spectators caught sneaking in alcohol are ejected and charged with trespassing, a more serious charge than an alcohol citation, Beck said.
At Purdue, fans caught with alcohol end up behind bars.
"At the other Big Ten venues, they process them at the stadium," said Carol A. Shelby, senior director of environmental health and public safety. "We take them to jail."
Fans have been relatively well-mannered the past couple of years. "I don?t know what?s going on," Shelby said, "but I?m loving it."
Targeting the tailgaters
The job of keeping the peace among fans in Ohio Stadium largely falls to 800 volunteer ushers, 400 paid ticket-takers and 200 security guards.
All are well-qualified to manage unruly fans, said Rick Amweg, assistant police chief for the university. "That?s why law enforcement has to take fewer official acts than you see in other venues."
Ohio State relies more on private security workers on game day than other Big Ten schools do.
The hundreds of law-enforcement officers working Ohio State games focus on directing traffic, protecting the stadium from terrorists and enforcing Ohio liquor laws in campus parking areas.
Athletics Director Gene Smith said Ohio State?s alcohol crackdown in the parking areas has helped keep troublemakers out of the stadium.
Last season, 526 tailgaters went home with citations, mostly for breaking alcohol laws. Only one was charged in the stadium, a man with drugs.
Police also must keep Ohio State personalities safe as they enter the stadium. One officer escorts Brutus Buckeye; five protect Coach Jim Tressel.
It?s an impressive show of law enforcement that?s absent at entrances to Ohio Stadium.
Gate security falls to Contemporary Services Corp., a firm hired by the athletics department to check bags for alcohol, weapons, food and other banned items.
The CSC staff is largely made up of college-age men and women who undergo one day of company training and 90 minutes of OSU instruction.
They feel the outside of bags and look for bulky pockets; they aren?t allowed to reach into bags or touch fans.
Smith concedes that alcohol still finds its way into the stands, particularly shot-size bottles of liquor hidden in socks, pockets and underwear.
"They beat us all the time with the airline bottles," Smith said. "But we?re not going to go that far" to pat down fans.
Security employee Troy King works the gate where many students enter the stadium. Perhaps his 6-foot-5-inch, 290-pound frame works as a deterrent, but King rarely finds alcohol and has yet to turn away a drunken fan.
"I don?t remember an issue I?ve had where I?ve had to deny access," said King, a 41-yearold middle school teacher from Cardington, about 35 miles north of Columbus.
Inside the stadium, monitoring fans falls to ushers, who are volunteers exchanging work for a chance to see the game, and paid ticket-takers called Redcoats.
Neither group has authority to eject, only to alert police.
Last season, police ejected five troublemakers at the request of ushers, athletics department reports show.
Other times, police were unavailable because they had left at halftime for assignments outside the stadium, were too slow to respond when there was trouble, or would congregate and chat among themselves or on cell phones, the report says.
The report, written by ushers and Redcoats, cited eight complaints of security lapses.
"Wow, that?s not bad," said Amweg, the university?s assistant police chief.
Smith took notes in his Blackberry. "Regardless of the numbers," he said, "we need to make sure our Redcoats and ushers feel backed up."
Teaching sportsmanship
Houston lawyer Frank Doyle has walked out of dozens of college football stadiums across the country after watching some of the most-hyped games.
Last year, he and his 11-yearold son ran from Ohio Stadium, fearing retaliation by angry Buckeye fans after a 25-22 loss to Texas.
"My experience in Columbus was off the chart, the worst place I?ve ever been," the 45-year-old Longhorn fan said a year removed from the Texas-Ohio State game.
Buckeye fans pushed him and his son, a 70 ish woman shoved them when they didn?t stand for the Ohio State marching band?s stadium entrance, a teenager taunted his son after each Buckeye score, and on and on.
"I didn?t think the ushers could help. It probably would have caused more trouble," Doyle said. "I didn?t think Ohio State cared the way people were treated."
He wrote a letter to Ohio State and received an apology from Smith 45 days later: "Behavior such as you described is totally inappropriate and has no place on a college campus."
Smith admits that unruly fan behavior across the country is an epidemic.
"It?s worse with how the bands are treated. It?s worse with how the cheerleaders are treated. The language is worse," he said. "Why would you boo the visiting team band? They?re not tackling anybody. They?re not blocking anybody."
Ohio State President Karen Holbrook sees improvements on her campus, especially in parking areas where she pushed for liquor-law enforcement on game days.
"I know there are a lot of people angry. But there?s enough people who do think the changes are positive," she said. "We wanted this to be a family-friendly day."
She has dealt with the aftershocks of off-campus riots, including one after the Michigan game in 2002 that drew international media attention.
She fielded calls from parents who said they wouldn?t send their children to Ohio State because of the rowdiness and from employers who said they wouldn?t hire OSU graduates.
Ohio State?s reputation is slowly recovering, she said.
"We?ve had three good Michigan games since the 2002 year," she said. "That?s a real change. There was a culture of, ?That?s what we do at Ohio State; we riot.? "
She also credits students who are leading an initiative to promote sportsmanship. Their advocacy has spread across Columbus as business and community leaders fly the banner of "Best Fans in the Land."
Senior Robbie Beaulieu is tired of Buckeye fans harassing visitors.
Before each home game, Beaulieu and other members of the student-led sportsmanship council greet visitors with smiles and buttons depicting that day?s matchup.
"It?s going to take a whole lot for a culture change," he said. "It?s not going to happen in one season."
Tressel also preaches sportsmanship through a scoreboard commercial: "Be proud, be loud. Cheer for the Buckeyes, not against our opponent."
Not everyone is listening. Some fans still boo the visiting teams, even in-state opponents such as Bowling Green.
Protecting the band
For those in Michigan State?s green and white band uniforms, it was a long march from the practice field into the University of Michigan?s football stadium two weeks ago.
Thousands of maize and blue tailgaters surrounded them. Some screamed obscenities and called names. Others booed and mocked their rival school. A few threatened to throw cups or other objects.
Security officers finally weaved the young men and women carrying drums and horns into Michigan Stadium.
"You would think we were the ones wearing helmets and shoulder pads," said Dave Peters, a senior in the Michigan State marching band. "This is what you get at games like this."
The bigger the game, it seems, the bigger potential for trouble.
The fear of unruly fan behavior was fueled by the pre-game drinking, which for some fans began a little after sunrise and didn?t stop until they entered the stadium. Others tried to continue the party by sneaking alcohol past the ushers and officers funneling more than 111,000 people into the stadium.
The game began at 4:30 p.m., the latest start in the history of Michigan Stadium, giving fans even longer to tailgate.
Officers were visible in every area of the stadium. Security cameras from the press box homed in on the student section, watching for potential unruly behavior. Thousands of fliers were handed out to fans, reminding them of the importance of good sportsmanship.
The university?s security force was aided by the Michigan football team, which dominated its rival most of the game, subduing fans from both schools.
There were the typical citations and ejections, mainly involving alcohol, but overall, fans behaved better than Michigan officials had expected.
"Alcohol is a problem and has been a problem for years. We take the issue very seriously," said Bill Bess, director of Michigan?s Department of Public Safety.
After the game, some fans teased and taunted beatendown Michigan State fans.
For the Michigan State band, there was no march back to the practice field, where the two rival bands usually meet for a post-game session. The expectation of unruly fans and previous bad experiences prompted the band to cancel.
"It?s too dark and not safe, especially if you are wearing a band uniform," said Peters, a five-year band member. "It?s just a football game. Some fans have a hard time remembering that."
For this story, The Dispatch analyzed records from Big Ten schools and interviewed fans and university or security officials. The Dispatch also attended games in Ann Arbor and Columbus.
[email protected]
[email protected]
these arent really representative though, they dont factor in off campus arrests/citations etc, and like it says we are the only school in the b10 with an open container policy, so the high number of alch citations is certainly greater than stated...
http://dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/10/22/20061022-A1-00.html
SPOILSPORTS
Alcohol and late games don?t mix well for Big Ten football, analysis finds
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Jill Riepenhoff and Mike Wagner
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Buckeye Fan Behavior Video
- OSU Coach and Player PSAs (Quicktime and Windows Media)
- Scoreboard Fan Behavior Spots (Quicktime and Windows Media)
- Fan Behavior at the 2002 OSU/Michigan game (Quicktime and Windows Media)
The young man, wearing a puffy winter coat on a warm sunny afternoon, heard his friend?s warning as he passed through the gate at Michigan Stadium.
"Make sure you hide that somewhere good," he whispered, but not softly enough.
A university police officer approached the man, opened his blue coat, reached into the side pocket and gently pulled out a pint of Jack Daniel?s.
In an instant, the man lost his whiskey, his scalped $100 ticket, and any chance to see rivals Michigan and Michigan State play football.
The man, who had flown from New York to attend the game with his family, begged for a second chance. His sister screamed at the officer, "You are breaking up a family. It?s just a little alcohol."
The scene in Ann Arbor two weeks ago illustrates a crackdown on improper fan behavior at college football stadiums across the country.
Alcohol possession and consumption accounted for nearly three-fourths of the problems at Big Ten football games in 2005, a Dispatch analysis of university police department reports found. Alcohol topped the list of reasons for ejection.
Fans, athletics officials, band members, cheerleaders and psychologists agree that behavior before, during and after football games continues to deteriorate.
There is no way to measure trash-talking, middle-finger gesturing, name-calling or other offensive behavior that breaks no laws.
The Dispatch collected and analyzed police incident reports to gauge behavior that broke school rules or criminal laws inside stadiums and to examine police response. More than 4.8 million fans flooded the conference?s 11 football stadiums during the season.
The newspaper found that:
? The University of Wisconsin, with the fourth-highest game attendance in the conference, ejected 413 fans, the most of any school.
? The majority of the problems happened during lateafternoon and night games, even though nearly 65 percent of Big Ten games started before 3:30 p.m.
? Intense rivalries brought the most trouble. Penn State and Michigan police each recorded season-high numbers of reports ? 73 and 74 ? when Ohio State visited. Ohio State officers? busiest day came during the Texas game, with seven police reports logged.
? Across the conference, police responded to 153 calls of disorderly conduct in the stands. When Penn State played in Michigan Stadium, police had 28 calls, the most for any single game.
? Ohio State and Indiana each totaled 24 reports for the season, though nearly three times as many fans watched games in Columbus.
"Clearly we have gotten to a point where fan behavior is worse than it was 20, 10 and even five years ago," said Daniel Wann, a psychology professor at Murray State University in Kentucky and an expert on fan behavior. "Many of the universities and the NCAA are taking this seriously now."
Everyone agrees that alcohol abuse is the root of most problems, he said. "We have known for decades in psychology that alcohol facilitates aggression. And we see proof of that game after game."
Consider the Wisconsin fans drenched by a garden hose in 2002 as they walked to Michigan Stadium.
Or the Michigan fan cornered and taunted in a Penn State bathroom two years ago.
Or the Buckeye Boosters seated in a bus that Wisconsin fans rocked in 2003.
Or the Texas Longhorn fans who ran in fear from Ohio Stadium last season.
The fans involved in those incidents never called police, they said in separate interviews. But the episodes left ugly, lasting impressions of the schools they visited.
"Used to be that you could go to a visiting stadium and there would be lots of camaraderie," said Gary Marconi, a long-time Ohio State fan who has attended nearly every Buckeyes game since 1989. "It?s become more hostile."
Stiffening the penalties
Many colleges across the nation have increased security to combat unruly fan behavior, but Wisconsin has some of the strictest laws and policies on game days.
The increased enforcement at Wisconsin is linked to a tragic day in 1993 when about 80 people were injured as thousands rushed the field after a win over Michigan.
In the stands and on the field, fans lay with crushed legs and broken bones. A few nearly died, gasping for air and turning blue under the mass of humanity that trampled them.
"We lived through the student crush and we never want to live that again," said Lt. Bill Larson, who coordinates security for Wisconsin home games.
At Wisconsin, fans caught throwing a hard object are ejected and cited. They also lose their season ticket. Anyone charged with a misdemeanor or worse loses his season ticket. Even season-ticket holders who don?t go to the game can lose their seats for the year if someone who buys their tickets gets into similar trouble.
Officers from about 30 lawenforcement agencies patrol every area of the stadium and watch for intoxicated fans or those who sneak in alcohol. At the Michigan game last year, police ejected more than 100 fans, mainly for intoxication or underage drinking.
Wisconsin police also work with a county medical facility that tends to fans who are too drunk to care for themselves. People taken there are kept for at least 12 hours. Season-ticket holders sent to the center lose their tickets for a year.
"You have to put it in perspective and realize that the vast amount of fans have a good time and are well-behaved," Larson said. "The overall behavior has gotten better here."
Penn State officials held a fan-behavior summit in December and banned drinking at tailgate parties during the game in response to problems last season, said Bruce N. Kline, assistant police director.
During one embarrassing scene, Penn State fans pelted the Ohio State marching band with urine-filled bottles during the 8 p.m. game last year.
Penn State President Graham Spanier issued a public apology.
Big Ten university officials struggle to balance the benefits of night games (national exposure) with the consequences (all-day drinking).
Michigan State also made tailgate-party changes in an attempt to decrease pre-game drinking. Officials do not open parking areas until five hours before kickoff for noon games and six hours for late-afternoon games.
At Ohio State, by contrast, some parking areas open the night before a game.
"We?ve noticed a big difference," said Michigan State police inspector Kelly Beck.
In Spartan Stadium, police officers, student workers and cameras keep tabs on fans.
Spectators caught sneaking in alcohol are ejected and charged with trespassing, a more serious charge than an alcohol citation, Beck said.
At Purdue, fans caught with alcohol end up behind bars.
"At the other Big Ten venues, they process them at the stadium," said Carol A. Shelby, senior director of environmental health and public safety. "We take them to jail."
Fans have been relatively well-mannered the past couple of years. "I don?t know what?s going on," Shelby said, "but I?m loving it."
Targeting the tailgaters
The job of keeping the peace among fans in Ohio Stadium largely falls to 800 volunteer ushers, 400 paid ticket-takers and 200 security guards.
All are well-qualified to manage unruly fans, said Rick Amweg, assistant police chief for the university. "That?s why law enforcement has to take fewer official acts than you see in other venues."
Ohio State relies more on private security workers on game day than other Big Ten schools do.
The hundreds of law-enforcement officers working Ohio State games focus on directing traffic, protecting the stadium from terrorists and enforcing Ohio liquor laws in campus parking areas.
Athletics Director Gene Smith said Ohio State?s alcohol crackdown in the parking areas has helped keep troublemakers out of the stadium.
Last season, 526 tailgaters went home with citations, mostly for breaking alcohol laws. Only one was charged in the stadium, a man with drugs.
Police also must keep Ohio State personalities safe as they enter the stadium. One officer escorts Brutus Buckeye; five protect Coach Jim Tressel.
It?s an impressive show of law enforcement that?s absent at entrances to Ohio Stadium.
Gate security falls to Contemporary Services Corp., a firm hired by the athletics department to check bags for alcohol, weapons, food and other banned items.
The CSC staff is largely made up of college-age men and women who undergo one day of company training and 90 minutes of OSU instruction.
They feel the outside of bags and look for bulky pockets; they aren?t allowed to reach into bags or touch fans.
Smith concedes that alcohol still finds its way into the stands, particularly shot-size bottles of liquor hidden in socks, pockets and underwear.
"They beat us all the time with the airline bottles," Smith said. "But we?re not going to go that far" to pat down fans.
Security employee Troy King works the gate where many students enter the stadium. Perhaps his 6-foot-5-inch, 290-pound frame works as a deterrent, but King rarely finds alcohol and has yet to turn away a drunken fan.
"I don?t remember an issue I?ve had where I?ve had to deny access," said King, a 41-yearold middle school teacher from Cardington, about 35 miles north of Columbus.
Inside the stadium, monitoring fans falls to ushers, who are volunteers exchanging work for a chance to see the game, and paid ticket-takers called Redcoats.
Neither group has authority to eject, only to alert police.
Last season, police ejected five troublemakers at the request of ushers, athletics department reports show.
Other times, police were unavailable because they had left at halftime for assignments outside the stadium, were too slow to respond when there was trouble, or would congregate and chat among themselves or on cell phones, the report says.
The report, written by ushers and Redcoats, cited eight complaints of security lapses.
"Wow, that?s not bad," said Amweg, the university?s assistant police chief.
Smith took notes in his Blackberry. "Regardless of the numbers," he said, "we need to make sure our Redcoats and ushers feel backed up."
Teaching sportsmanship
Houston lawyer Frank Doyle has walked out of dozens of college football stadiums across the country after watching some of the most-hyped games.
Last year, he and his 11-yearold son ran from Ohio Stadium, fearing retaliation by angry Buckeye fans after a 25-22 loss to Texas.
"My experience in Columbus was off the chart, the worst place I?ve ever been," the 45-year-old Longhorn fan said a year removed from the Texas-Ohio State game.
Buckeye fans pushed him and his son, a 70 ish woman shoved them when they didn?t stand for the Ohio State marching band?s stadium entrance, a teenager taunted his son after each Buckeye score, and on and on.
"I didn?t think the ushers could help. It probably would have caused more trouble," Doyle said. "I didn?t think Ohio State cared the way people were treated."
He wrote a letter to Ohio State and received an apology from Smith 45 days later: "Behavior such as you described is totally inappropriate and has no place on a college campus."
Smith admits that unruly fan behavior across the country is an epidemic.
"It?s worse with how the bands are treated. It?s worse with how the cheerleaders are treated. The language is worse," he said. "Why would you boo the visiting team band? They?re not tackling anybody. They?re not blocking anybody."
Ohio State President Karen Holbrook sees improvements on her campus, especially in parking areas where she pushed for liquor-law enforcement on game days.
"I know there are a lot of people angry. But there?s enough people who do think the changes are positive," she said. "We wanted this to be a family-friendly day."
She has dealt with the aftershocks of off-campus riots, including one after the Michigan game in 2002 that drew international media attention.
She fielded calls from parents who said they wouldn?t send their children to Ohio State because of the rowdiness and from employers who said they wouldn?t hire OSU graduates.
Ohio State?s reputation is slowly recovering, she said.
"We?ve had three good Michigan games since the 2002 year," she said. "That?s a real change. There was a culture of, ?That?s what we do at Ohio State; we riot.? "
She also credits students who are leading an initiative to promote sportsmanship. Their advocacy has spread across Columbus as business and community leaders fly the banner of "Best Fans in the Land."
Senior Robbie Beaulieu is tired of Buckeye fans harassing visitors.
Before each home game, Beaulieu and other members of the student-led sportsmanship council greet visitors with smiles and buttons depicting that day?s matchup.
"It?s going to take a whole lot for a culture change," he said. "It?s not going to happen in one season."
Tressel also preaches sportsmanship through a scoreboard commercial: "Be proud, be loud. Cheer for the Buckeyes, not against our opponent."
Not everyone is listening. Some fans still boo the visiting teams, even in-state opponents such as Bowling Green.
Protecting the band
For those in Michigan State?s green and white band uniforms, it was a long march from the practice field into the University of Michigan?s football stadium two weeks ago.
Thousands of maize and blue tailgaters surrounded them. Some screamed obscenities and called names. Others booed and mocked their rival school. A few threatened to throw cups or other objects.
Security officers finally weaved the young men and women carrying drums and horns into Michigan Stadium.
"You would think we were the ones wearing helmets and shoulder pads," said Dave Peters, a senior in the Michigan State marching band. "This is what you get at games like this."
The bigger the game, it seems, the bigger potential for trouble.
The fear of unruly fan behavior was fueled by the pre-game drinking, which for some fans began a little after sunrise and didn?t stop until they entered the stadium. Others tried to continue the party by sneaking alcohol past the ushers and officers funneling more than 111,000 people into the stadium.
The game began at 4:30 p.m., the latest start in the history of Michigan Stadium, giving fans even longer to tailgate.
Officers were visible in every area of the stadium. Security cameras from the press box homed in on the student section, watching for potential unruly behavior. Thousands of fliers were handed out to fans, reminding them of the importance of good sportsmanship.
The university?s security force was aided by the Michigan football team, which dominated its rival most of the game, subduing fans from both schools.
There were the typical citations and ejections, mainly involving alcohol, but overall, fans behaved better than Michigan officials had expected.
"Alcohol is a problem and has been a problem for years. We take the issue very seriously," said Bill Bess, director of Michigan?s Department of Public Safety.
After the game, some fans teased and taunted beatendown Michigan State fans.
For the Michigan State band, there was no march back to the practice field, where the two rival bands usually meet for a post-game session. The expectation of unruly fans and previous bad experiences prompted the band to cancel.
"It?s too dark and not safe, especially if you are wearing a band uniform," said Peters, a five-year band member. "It?s just a football game. Some fans have a hard time remembering that."
For this story, The Dispatch analyzed records from Big Ten schools and interviewed fans and university or security officials. The Dispatch also attended games in Ann Arbor and Columbus.
[email protected]
[email protected]
these arent really representative though, they dont factor in off campus arrests/citations etc, and like it says we are the only school in the b10 with an open container policy, so the high number of alch citations is certainly greater than stated...
